Arsene Wenger: Arsenal thrashing in San Siro will haunt me forever

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger last night admitted his side’s 4-0 Champions League thrashing at AC Milan will haunt him forever.

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger last night admitted his side’s 4-0 Champions League thrashing at AC Milan will haunt him forever.

The furious Frenchman ripped his sloppy stars to shreds in a training-ground rollicking after the embarrassing midweek thumping at the San Siro.

But Wenger is confident his squad will respond in the correct manner when they battle with Sunderland today for a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

He has warned his flops that they must now prove they are fit to wear their Arsenal shirts.

Wenger’s demanding a “committed” reaction after the worst European defeat in the club’s history and has promised to field a full-strength side at the Stadium of Light.

He said: “It never gets out of your system because you take it with you until the last day of your life.

“But when you love competition you always strive for the next one, to prove that you are ready for a new fight. That is what competition is all about.

“The reflection is that you can find 100 explanations that we had a poor performance and an off day.

“We lost against a good AC Milan team, not an exceptional one. And unfortunately we were punished severely.

“So I believe for us, for the rest of the season, it is important not to dwell on that too much. We must focus on the next performance, respond in a positive way and ensure we have the mental qualities to be at this club.

“We have to ensure straight away that we can respond, that is where the real test is.

“What happened we can’t change now but for the rest of the season we have an influence on it.

“We had put together a good series of results before and we can consider that night in Milan was just where we had an off-day.

“We go into a new battle now where we need confidence, belief and great commitment.”

Wenger was considering resting and rotating players in his squad for the fifth-round tie.

But after effectively crashing out of Europe in Italy, he has revised his plans and will field his strongest line-up, boosted by the return of forward Gervinho from the African Nations Cup.

Per Mertesacker won’t feature, however, after the German defender underwent surgery on the ankle injury suffered in the 2-1 League win on Sunderland’s heavy pitch last weekend. He is expected to be out for the rest of the season.

Wenger insists there is a lot to play for and is adamant Arsenal can still finish fourth and win the FA Cup – which he concedes has now taken on a new importance.

He added: “We are in fourth and we have an opportunity to qualify for the quarter-finals. It’s important we are up for that challenge and do not feel sorry for ourselves.

“The Cup was always important, but it’s even more important now.It is the next game and because we had a big disappointment in the last game it is more important.

“But the FA Cup was always one of my priorities and therefore, coming off the Milan game, it becomes even more important.

“After what happened it is important for us to have a great performance. The team will be full strength. I’ll refresh it because some players have played many games recently but we will do the maximum to win this game.”